Send Officer

This is a Full Time, Permanent Position. We are seeking an experienced and forward-thinking SEND Officer – Reforms to play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering a reformed SEND pathway while maintaining robust statutory compliance and high-quality frontline services.

This is a critical post responsible for designing and embedding a consistent end-to-end SEND workflow, aligned to emerging SEND reforms, that strengthens:

• Quality Assurance (QA) arrangements
• Tribunal readiness and response
• Early resolution and de-escalation of disputes
• Consistency of EHCP decision-making and practice

You will ensure the service continues to meet its statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014, while actively transforming practice to improve outcomes, reduce complaints, and build confidence with families and partners.

ROLE AND PURPOSE:

• To provide a proactive and responsive service for children, young people, and their families with SEND.
• To have operational responsibility and line management of complex SEND case work to ensure that those children and young people with complex SEND have appropriate educational placements secured that enable them to meet their educational outcomes, prepares them for adulthood and that meet the local authority’s statutory duty.
• To have line management responsibility for SEND caseworkers and support staff including work allocation, supervision, quality assurance of work and budget control, ensuring service standards performance indicators, and statutory requirements are met.
• Responsible for decision making for key elements of EHCP case work and ensuring that all communication and contact with young people, parents and schools is timely, supportive, and constructive, so that confidence in the service is maintained and improved.
• To have operational responsibility for ensuring high profile cases have a dynamic Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) that accurately represents the child or young person and their needs.
• To prepare the local authority’s statement of case and take the lead on and represent the local authority at SEN Mediation and First Tier Tribunals as well as respond to complaints and negotiate on a regular basis with Solicitors/MP Offices, complaints, and the Freedom of Information Team.
• To be a link officer for named special schools and facilitate and lead termly monitoring meetings to ensure that all children and young people are receiving a positive experience within their education setting and be able to provide a proactive service to ensure timely action on potential risks.
• To maintain electronic and paper records in accordance with service standards ensuring accurate case recording of all aspects of the EHC process.
• To support the continual improvement cycle by quality assuring the work of the SEND caseworkers and undertake case audits as part of the services Quality Assurance Framework.
• To deputise as required for the SEND Team Manager in their absence.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• To promote and safeguard the welfare of children, young people and/or vulnerable adults acting as the person responsible to co-ordinate support throughout the SEND process to ensure that good outcomes are achieved and to progress safeguarding concerns in line with policy and procedure.
• Customer Focus – To provide a proactive and responsive front facing service for children, young people, and their families with SEND.
• Support the Team Manager to use customer feedback to inform service improvement and practice.
• Support the Team Manager to ensure parents and young people with SEND play an active part in service development and identify innovative solutions which minimises the need for parents to seek remedy through the SEND Tribunal arrangements.
• Provide training, support and advice to schools, educational providers and other key stakeholders to develop their capacity to meet pupil needs in respect of SEND.
• Apart from the Team Manager, work with senior school leaders to negotiate and sometimes direct a school to admit a vulnerable or challenging learner.
• Communicate local authority decisions about SEND provision and negotiate on behalf of the authority where there are disputes or disagreements.
• Performance Management – To ensure the effective supervision of staff to secure high levels of performance and improved customer service satisfaction.
• Responsible for the quality and timeliness of work undertaken by SEND caseworkers.
• To ensure changes in legislation are interpreted and implemented effectively into policy and operational practice.
• To ensure the consistent application of operational practice and policy across the team.
• To bring to the Team Managers attention any areas of concern that may impact on service performance.
• To ensure that SEND case workers are up to date with mandatory training and to raise any performance issues with staff as appropriate and agree a plan of action to support their development.
• Statutory Obligations – Ensure the requirements of Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, the SEND Code of Practice 2015 and other relevant legislation and policy are met.
• Manage and develop a small team of SEND Caseworkers and Casework Assistants ensuring practice is in line with the Children and Families Act 2014 and that performance indicators are met.
• To verify and approve Draft EHC Plans and Notice of Amendments, ensuring that decisions are legal and made in accordance with available resources to ensure that they provide value for money and quality.
• Alongside the Team Manager, analyse trends in referral rates and other data to forecast/plan work and to ensure that financial implications are recorded and reported on.
• To support SEND case workers at complex multi-agency meetings as necessary and undertake strategic review meetings of education placements in maintained and independent non-maintained special schools and other educational settings, alerting the Team Manager to any placement/provision issues that arise.
• To ensure that EHC plans, and interventions support young people to prepare for adulthood.
• Manage the SEND Tribunal process ensuring that all deadlines are met, producing detailed working documents in liaison with families and specialist SEND Solicitors on cases.
• Accurately record, input, and maintain case records as per service standards.
• Negotiate at mediation sessions on behalf of the Authority using an appointed Mediation Service.
• Oversee the phase transfer of pupils in accordance with the statutory deadlines as laid down the SEND Code of Practice.
• Contribute to the maintenance/retrieval of accurate, up to date information on service databases, monitoring systems case management systems.
• Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of any changes in legislation and case law relating to SEND and amend internal documents as required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.